TomCat39

By request, and realizing this car will need a lot more to refresh it than I originally thought..... I bring you the abused 92 CDM VX.

This is what I started with:








Not pictured yet, no visors and in their place was the 5 mirror bar that goes all the way across the front liner. The liner has dropped. Also a allegedly miss wired AFR gauge. And as can be seen, no muffler. And not pictured, they lost parts to one of the rear shocks when putting the coil over kit on the stock shocks so the shock shaft was sitting up at least 6-8 inches into the trunk space.

Compression looked to be about 150 across the board with 4 cranks. I messed up on #2 and got 130 but I think that was 3 full cranks and I quit just before the 4th crank completed. I'm going to redo the test this weekend being I drove it to work and back today and she did not like getting gas at low rpm. She stuttered quite a bit. I also think I'm hearing the transmission bearings and so I need to slap my DX tranny in her and rebuild the rare VX tall gear baby.

Picked up spark plugs today and will look into Aura Wires for tune up. Also need to pick up a Contitech timing belt. Have new water pump and tensioner since VX shares the Z6 water pump and tensioner and I had bought new ones for the Z6 I scrapped due to phantom idle overheat.

This weekend, I'm running to my other semi local salvage yard to pick up a muffler.

I also have not finished my "ghetto velocity stack" so it's more of a sharp angle (45*) adapter/converter. Needed to drive it today so I put her together before I was done. Took pics of where it's at currently which I will put up in another post soon.

Lots of work to do on this baby but she should go well. Oh also discovered the passenger upper front ball joint is bad so I need to pull a decent upper control arm from the cars in the yard.

TomCat39

Here is where after a fair amount of plastidip being pealed off.









And of course the rear strut bolts were seized in the bushing sleeves and the heads snapped off. Oh joy oh joy!



Oh I forgot to mention, the upper castle nuts on the front control arms did not have cotter pins !!(O,o)!! And they put conical seat tuner lug nuts on the ***** seat oem rims.....

Now the castle nuts have cotter pins and the wheels have oem Honda ball seat lug nuts.

twpaq

SUBSCRIBED! Maybe I should put my build as well. In my opinion, that is the best paint color and they covered it up with that. Looking forward to the build!

deschlong

iTrader: (8)

Revealed to be Tahitian Green Pearl! Here I thought it would be another Milano Red VX. Agreed that this is a really beauty green, and a super 90s colour that stands out and still shines today.

The rust situation even seems manageable.

I know which mods/retrofits I would want to do to this gem, but what have you got bouncing around your head?

pontiacman63383

Just a heads up from someone that has been through the nightmare of plaist-dip, get you a spray bottle of the gel goo-gone (the gel works better then the normal stuff). It works amazing for the areas where its just light over spray and will not just peel off. Spray it on and let it sit for a min or so and the dip will wipe off with a rag. its great for in the door jams or in between body panels. good luck with the build

TomCat39

WD40 works well too, not as strong so you let it sit for 5 minutes and it melts the dip. Might have to spray it a couple of times but I think it might be even more gentle on the paint the goo gone.

I have to agree, the Tahitian Green Pearl is probably my favorite OEM color of the 5th gens.

As for mods..... My JDM black arm rest will be going into this one. I would like the EDM double din center console. If I remember correctly it's the one with the same ashtray lighter layout. I think JDM the lighter is on the left side instead of the right. Don't really remember exactly to be honest. I'd also entertain EDM head lights and with the Green paint I do like the JDM full amber corners. I think I might put a nice set of coil overs on the car with softer spring rates. I'd like to reduce the wheel well gap but not slam her to the ground like they had it. And I already have the 4 prong non srs steering wheel and a tilt column to put into her. So at some point she'll get cruise control. Not sure if I want to add the weight of power mirrors and windows. Thinking about keeping that stock.

She already has Del Sol bucket seats which I enjoy the lower seat level and they are probably the most comfy of all the straight swap in seats I've sat in. So interior I'll have to choose my color scheme and have all the seats re-upholstered so everything matches. Just not sure on color scheme to complement the Green on the outside.

Lastly, I need to redo the sunroof with a flip type, the wind handle doesn't pull the window tight enough to seal (poorly designed methinks with weak materials). The flip type I had on the 95 never leaked and I'm pretty sure it was almost as old as the car. The wind type I think wears out and looses strength over time so will eventually have problems like this one does. That's just my opinion based on the two I've had with aftermarket sun roofs.

I will say, this is probably the first car I like to drive like a Sunday driver no matter how many people get pissed at me and zoom around me. I love watching the gas gauge not move for ages.

More pictures to come... Uploading now.

tony_2018

Woot!

mk378

Wow someone wanted their car to be that brown color? They sell Plastidip to put on tool handles, yet it is not oil resistant at all. So, don't ever get oil on your tools. I don't understand the purpose of that product.

Sounds like the engine is in decent shape. The important thing is that all the controls are still also VX. An open exhaust-- no converter, no muffler, not even a pipe to the back of the car-- tends to not run very well. There needs to be some resonance and back pressure.

tony_2018

True that, my z7 is not loving the integra type r exhaust.....

TomCat39

Has a converter, it's built into the exhaust manifold so it should still have some scavaging capability. It's like the D15B8 manifold setup.

The VX has a shielded oil dip stick because of it. I wonder if the D15B8 shares the same funky oil check stick.

The lip layer of my ghetto velocity stack is dry.





Good visual of the lip created to mesh with the throttle body mouth.



This is a spacer ring I made by cutting a 1 cm strip and taping/gasketting together to push the other piece off enough to sit out from the mouth just enough to create a stack.





Vaseline worked likea charm, all over smears wipes right off the metal of the throttle body without issue and it now is clean as it was prior to gooping it all.
Here you can see just how much larger the stock B7 air tube is to the VX throttle body. I like the idea of my work around but I am still on the hunt for the VX intake tube.




This is how the adapter sits inside the intake tube. Slides right up to the small lip in the stock B7 tube.




A better shot of the missing exhaust and you can see the new Energy Suspension Rear shock bushing installed. you might notice that green color around the bushing, that is the insanely gooey bushing grease I bought some time back from polybushing,com. They claim if you use their bushing lube you won't have to re-grease the bushings and they won't ever squeak. The stuff was like hot gum and expect to have a stringy mess as you apply it to everything. It's some serious lube!



Oh forgot to mention, I made the adapter by cutting the coupler down, they had a 3.5" x 2" intake coupler in blue silicone I believe to link a short ram to that tiny throttle body. Looked very much like this larger 4 x 3 coupler:




More plastidip came off, pics in the next post.

TomCat39

Couple more shots of the new rear shock bushings. First shot you can see the grease string just dangling half way to the floor lol.





Here is where the car sits today (but not on stands at the moment lol). I'm off to another salvage yard to see about nabbing a stock(ish) bolt on muffler for 25 bucks.







Hey deschlong, recognize your front lip under my rear spoiler? lol

7


Plastidip removed from the mirrors, WD40 sure made it easy!




And the so annoying mirror bar. This has been removed and some dirty visors put in. Will keep my eye out for some cleaner ones down the road.

chrysler kid

I was trying to find a good solution to visors, bring an old one with you to the junk yard and compare them to the newer civics (like 01+) to see if the clip to pivot point length is the same as your cars. I found thread about people using various ones in eg/ek/Integras, and the em2 style is typically more durable fabric. I just don't know dimensions of them

tony_2018

plastidip did its job, it protected the oem paint.

stin1

iTrader: (1)

Why would anyone put that stuff on nice paint? Hey , instead of re spraying this oem bumper, let's make it look like a junk yard refugee. This brown will make the car look really run down . I don't understand people's thought process when modifying a vehicle sometimes. Is it Tahitian green pearl , or the other more Easter egg teal ? Nice save.

tony_2018

OH NO aftermarket sunroof!!!

JRCivic1

TomCat39, my DA endurance car needs a wide-view mirror like you have pictured... would you like to trade for a pair of EG visors ???

TomCat39

I never really thought of going other than original. Color match is what is important to me. I don't mind the EG visors, vinyl on one side a felt on the other.

I'm not so sure they did the dip to protect paint. They sanded down spots, filled with a red bondo like filler and then sprayed the whole car, rubbers and all.

Drivers Door.



Drivers rear fender.



Passengers front fender.



Passengers rear fender.



92 is Tahitian Perl Green when I looked up the paint code yesterday.

BG28P-4 Tahitian Green Pearl.

While the fender I pulled from the yard yesterday is lighter more pastel like green. Came from a 94 and I learned that it's one of the 4 Aztec Green Pearls so won't even come close to matching my car...

BG29P - 4, BG29P-4 Aztec Green Pearl

BG29P - 5, BG29P-5 Aztec Green Pearl

That's one of the few aftermarket things (besides alarm) that I like to have. Only the Si came with moon roofs and after having a good flip up sunroof, the extra head room, as well as the aerodynamic ventilation on highway is extremely appreciated. Driving my wifes and having to crack the window to get more air into the car when on the freeway sucks *****. I miss being able to pop up the sun roof when on the highways. Quieter and air flow was decent without being obnoxious. Front side windows is none of those things. I really don't care if it drops the value of the car, for me, it's a must have feature that we will also be adding to my wifes DX at some point.

I'm less concerned about visors, the ones I got probably will clean up nice and they are pretty cheap at the yards if they don't. What I could use though is the front piller interior trim piece(s). I just noticed yesterday they broke a piece off the front drivers side pillar trim. That piece can be harder to find one unmarred being most every kid smokes and ends up putting a burn mark on the drivers side trying to flick ashes out the window. I'd be happy to trade the mirror for that piece or pieces if you have a matching set. Or if you don't have that, a good working Driver's side seat belt that is the dark charcoal (for black interior). I had to put the lighter grey one into my wife's car when it stopped working and so it's a mismatch with all the other seat belts in the car lol.

tony_2018

They were suppose to prime it properly before spraying plastidip, I mean the oem paint surface still looks good minus the damaged areas that weren't taken care properly.

TomCat39

How do you prime for plastidip?

Got the roof done and started working on driver side rubbers, WD40 for the win.





Patched the used muffler case holes with muffler weld, had to retap one of the pipe nuts, that was a tough job, the hardened steel did not like to take the tap. wasn't sure if the tap was going to snap in the bolt but eventually got it through. Also the pipe where the flex gasket sits partially crumbled so after I sprayed it with rust converter and let it dry, I used Permatex copper high temp gasket maker to be sure the new flex gasket seals. Spring bolts fully in place and she's quiet purr now when run.




Now off to pick a part to see about a glove box handle for someone. Ciao for now.

tony_2018

No, the rust spots that the po was trying to take care of, he didn't sand and primer.

TomCat39

All the restoration shows I've watched, I could swear they sand to metal, body fill, block, then primer then paint. PO seemed to sand then body fill, then plastidip. *shrug*

Anyways, tonight I started working on the steering wheel. Pulled the quick release hub off and started looking at the 92 VX slip ring setup. It uses a single copper contact spring that connects directly to the combination light switch (left stalk). I pulled the contact point off, it uses 1 screw and a female spade connector, male is on the stalk combination switch. As can be seen in the photo below the 3 prong non srs steering wheel used a super basic 1 wire slip ring setup.




After getting the copper contact spring off and removing the simple slip ring, I installed the 3 contact point slip ring onto the column. I had already unplugged all the plugs from the two column stalk switches and at this point I had to stop and start investigating my FSM and ETM. This became a little challenging as my ETM is for a 93 while the FSM everyone has found online is the 92. It's important to note, the cruise control slip ring was only used in 92 so the ETM I have doesn't apply to this car or the slip ring I am using for my cruise control non srs steering wheel.



I then took a gander at the plug that goes into the back of the slip ring and noted the blue red wire is the same gauge as the blue red wire going to the 7P connector of my combination switch. The end connectors (both female) are VERY different sizes. The female spade in the 7P connector is a largish to normal size spade while the 5p grey connector to the slip ring uses Honda small *** female connectors much like is used on the ECU plugs. As such, after I test the blue/red wire in the 7p connector tomorrow and confirm it's the horn wire, I think I will T off the cars original wire with the one I pulled from the salvage yard and I will just leave the original in place in the 7P connector for the combination light switch. This will make reverting easy if it ever needs to be done down the road.

Here is the 5p connector and it's 3 wires. I'm going to depin the 2 green wires for now and it will be easy to plug them back into the connector down the road without having to pull the steering wheel off when I want to add cruise control functionality.




When I looked at the column bolts for the ignition locked, I was shocked to find intact shear bolts, they were not snapped off like they are supposed to be.....



Oh and I forgot to share a trick I did for my OEM mirrors. The rubbers behind the mirror base have a foam seal on the perimeter the houses the manual adjusting handle. One of them was shredded off on the set given with the car. I had a couple of sedan rubbers that don't fit the mirrors being I'm a 2D/3D size but the foam rubber part is the same as the handle insert is the same for all the cars. The foam seal is adhered to the rubbers with a double sided tape but after 25 years it's pretty much no longer tacky so doesn't stick after you peal it off. Soooo, I use High Tack Gasket Maker spray to put a light layer of tacky vinyl on the seal and it sticks in place on the rubbers perfectly. I spray the tape side and then just place it on my rubbers. It lets me recycle the good foam seals from the yard successfully.





I hope this trick helps someone down the road. I find it very handy for little things like this.

deschlong

iTrader: (8)

Inside your 4-prong wheel you will need to do one of two things: Either pre-install the steering wheel cruise buttons or jump the horn wire around where they connect through the cruise buttons. This is because the cruise buttons actually use the horn wire as power to send a signal down one of the green wires to the cruise brain (set/resume/accel/etc.), and the horn wire passes through these buttons on to the horn.

The other thing I thought of for a low-effort upgrade is that it would be great to add front intermittent wipers. Get a stalk from any 92-00 Civic, and an ICU. And if you get an ICU from a 96-00 Civic, you'll add a lights-on-with-door-open indicator.

That said, if I were you, I'd be getting a whole rear wiper setup with rear intermittent, even. And adding the rear hook/handle. Lots of parts work from a 97-01 CRV for this. See my DIYs.

TomCat39

Thanks deschlong!

My steering wheel already has the cruise buttons. I believe it was a 92 Si wheel without SRS when I bought it and is what caused me to become aware of these rare parts. At the time I didn't know how rare though lol.

What I didn't realize but I think you are absolutely right is that the VX doesn't even have intermittent front wipers....... I thought something seemed off for the wiper switch but couldn't quite place it. I also noticed there is no washer tube in the back window but I was already thinking about the rear wiper and washer. And I already have a couple of 98+ CRV ICU's as I was going to add intermittent rear wiper and head light buzzer to the DX and my old CX but never got around to it.

If I remember correctly I'm pretty sure doing the 98 CRV is a touch different than using the 97 CRV ICU so I'll have to sit back down and rewrap my head around it. I did quite a bit of research to see what repinning needed to be done but I don't think I kept all my notes.

It's part of the reason why I appreciate the suggestion of this thread. I can document most everything so it's not lost sometime down the road.

tony_2018

Progress is being made!!

DaX

iTrader: (1)

Is the EK ICU a direct swap into the EG fuse panel? I usually end up killing my battery at least once a year due to leaving my lights on. If all it will take is an ICU swap, I'll do that ASAP!